A Special CBI court on Tuesday granted bail to a key accused in the 2003 Sadiq Jamal Mehtar fake encounter case. The policeman, now retired, is accused of bringing the 28-year-old Bhavnagar youth to the scene of the crime moments before he was gunned down.

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Retired Inspector G H Gohil, who was chargesheeted by the CBI in December 2012, was granted bail by Special Judge M K Gandhi. Gohil sought bail on the ground of parity with the four co-accused who got relief. Four other accused policemen — R L Mavani, K M Vaghela, C M Chudasama and Ajaypal Yadav — are out on bail. The CBI chargesheet claims that Gohil brought Sadiq from the office of Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), then located at Dafnala, Shahibaug, where he was kept in illegal detention. Gohil contended that apart from witness Ahmedmiya Malik’s statement, there is no evidence suggesting his participation in the conspiracy.

The CBI chargesheet claims that Barot had gone to Mumbai days before the encounter and brought Sadiq to Gujarat from the illegal custody of the Mumbai police.

The CBI is yet to investigate the role of the Mumbai police and then officials of IB posted in Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Mumbai. Due to delay by the CBI in filing a supplementary chargesheet, Sadiq’s brother Sabbir Jamal had moved an application before the CBI court in May 2013, requesting further investigation into the case under section 173 (8) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).